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World Heritage Cities Programme

The World Heritage Cities Programme is one of six thematic programmes formally approved and monitored by the World Heritage Committee.

It aims to assist States Parties in the challenges of protecting and managing their urban heritage. The programme is structured along a two-way process, with 1) the development of a theoretical framework for urban heritage conservation, and 2) the provision of technical assistance to States Parties for the implementation of new approaches and schemes.

Concerned by the multitude of World Heritage Cities facing difficulties in reconciling conservation and development, the World Heritage Committee at its 29th session in Durban, South Africa (July 2005) requested the development of a new standard-setting instrument to provide updated guidelines to better integrate urban heritage conservation into strategies of socio-economic development. The World Heritage Committee relegated this task to UNESCO in view of the fact that such challenges were faced by all historic cities, not only those inscribed onto the World Heritage List, to muster the broadest possible support from the international community, and to underline the role of UNESCO as standard-setting organization.

Expert meetings

From 2006 to 2010, eight international expert workshops were organized in Jerusalem (June 2006), UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (September 2006), Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation (January 2007), Olinda, Brazil (November 2007), Chandigarh, India (December 2007), UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (November 2008), Stone Town, Zanzibar (December 2009) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (December 2009). The meetings identified new threats and challenges to historic cities preservation that were not present when the last UNESCO Recommendation on this subject, i.e. the 1976 Recommendation concerning the Safeguarding and Contemporary Role of Historic Areas, was adopted and suggested inclusion of concepts that have emerged since 1976, such as those of cultural diversity, intangible heritage and the role and traditions of local communities, among others. Please click here to see the previous activities.

New Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape

On 10 November 2011 UNESCO’s General Conference adopted the new Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape by acclamation, the first such instrument on the historic environment issued by UNESCO in 35 years. The Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape will not replace existing doctrines or conservation approaches; rather, it is an additional tool to integrate policies and practices of conservation of the built environment into the wider goals of urban development in respect of the inherited values and traditions of different cultural contexts. This tool, which is a “soft-law” to be implemented by Member States on a voluntary basis.

In order to facilitate implementation, the UNESCO General Conference recommended that Member States take the appropriate steps to:

adapt this new instrument to their specific contexts;

disseminate it widely across their national territories;

facilitate implementation through formulation and adoption of supporting policies; and to

monitor its impact on the conservation and management of historic cities.

It further recommended that Member States and relevant local authorities identify within their specific contexts the critical steps to implement the Historic Urban Landscape approach, which may include the following:

To undertake comprehensive surveys and mapping of the city’s natural, cultural and human resources;

To reach consensus using participatory planning and stakeholder consultations on what values to protect for transmission to future generations and to determine the attributes that carry these values;

To assess vulnerability of these attributes to socio-economic stresses and impacts of climate change;

To integrate urban heritage values and their vulnerability status into a wider framework of city development, which shall provide indications of areas of heritage sensitivity that require careful attention to planning, design and implementation of development projects;

To prioritize actions for conservation and development;

To establish the appropriate partnerships and local management frameworks for each of the identified projects for conservation and development, as well as to develop mechanisms for the coordination of the various activities between different actors, both public and private.

The Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape was adopted on 10 November 2011 at the 36th session of the General Conference. The Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, including a glossary of definitions can be found from [here].

Decisions (5)

3. Taking note with satisfaction of Decision 181 EX/29 adopted by the Executive Board at its 181st session (April 2009) on the preliminary study on the technical and legal aspects relating to the desirability of a standard-setting instrument on the Conservation of the Historic Urban Landscape,

4. Encourages the General Conference to take action at its 35th session (October 2009) aimed at drawing up a new standard-setting instrument in the form of a Recommendation on the Conservation of the Historic Urban Landscape;

5. Requests the Director of the World Heritage Centre to report on this matter at its 34th session in 2010;

6. Welcomes the principle of adopting the concept of Historic Urban Landscape in the text of the Operational Guidelines but requests that further reflection be given before any final decision is made;

7. Also requests the Director of the World Heritage Centre to seek extra-budgetary funds with the aim to convene an Expert Meeting with the mandate to prepare in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies and other professional and academic institutions a draft text for the possible inclusion of the Historic Urban Landscape in the relevant sections of the Operational Guidelines and identify significant case-studies for continuing evaluation and possible inclusion as best practice in an appendix, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 34th session in 2010;

8. Takes note with gratitude of the offer of Brazil to host this meeting in Rio de Janeiro;

9. Further requests the Director of the World Heritage Centre in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies to further identify methods and processes towards the establishment of guidelines on the assessment of the impact of contemporary architectural insertions on the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage properties for discussion by the 34th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2010.

2. Recalling Decision 29 COM 5D, adopted at its 29th session (Durban, 2005) and Resolution 15 GA 7, adopted at the 15th General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention (UNESCO, 2005),

3. Noting decision 179EX/25 regarding a "Proposal by the Director-General for the preparation of a revised recommendation concerning the safeguarding and contemporary role of historic areas" that includes a full preliminary study of the technical and legal aspects of the issue;

4. Commends the Advisory Bodies ICOMOS, ICCROM and IUCN, and partner organizations UIA (International Union of Architects), IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects), IFHP (International Federation for Housing and Planning), OWHC (Organization of World Heritage Cities) and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture for their continued support and participation in this important initiative;

5. Requests the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to prepare a plan of action and timetable, setting out the timeframe for developing new Orientation Guidelines on management of historic urban World Heritage properties including impact assessment tools, for submission to the Committee at its 33rd session in 2009.

3. Emphasizing that setting precise but realistic and measurable results and indicators is essential for effective performance appraisal and monitoring,

4. Takes note of the set of performance indicators of all the World Heritage Thematic Programmes which are structured according to the four Strategic Objectives set at its 26th session (Budapest, 2002);

5. Encourages the Director of the World Heritage Centre to seek appropriate funding for these Thematic Programmes and invites donors to provide financial support to this effort;

6. Further requests a management audit in order to facilitate the development of the strategic plan for reinforcing the implementation of the Convention, and that no management structure changes at the World Heritage Centre should occur until the management audit is completed.

2. Expresses its sincere appreciation to the State Party of Austria, the City of Vienna, the World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS and ICCROM, and to the partner organizations: Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), International federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), International Union of Architects (IUA) and International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP), for their successful collaboration in the organisation of the international conference on “World Heritage and Contemporary Architecture - Managing the Historic Urban Landscape” (Vienna, 12 -14 May 2005);

3. Takes note of the report and welcomes the Vienna Memorandum adopted at the above-mentioned international conference;

4. Encourages States Parties to integrate the notion of historic urban landscape in nomination proposals and in the laboration of management plans of properties nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List;

5. Also encourages States Parties to integrate the principles expressed in the Vienna Memorandum into their heritage conservation policies;

6. Requests the Advisory Bodies and the World Heritage Centre to take into account the conservation of the historic urban landscape when reviewing any potential impact on the integrity of an existing World Heritage property, and during the nomination evaluation process of new sites;

7. Recommends that the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention at its 15th session (UNESCO, 2005) adopt, on the basis of the Vienna Memorandum, a Declaration on the Conservation of Historic Urban Landscapes;

8. Also recommends that the General Conference of UNESCO adopt a new recommendation to complement and update the existing ones on the subject of conservation of historic urban landscapes, with special reference to the need to link contemporary architecture to the urban historic context.

1. Notes the information contained in working document WHC-02/CONF.202/13B on an analysis of the major conservation issues identified through a review of the international assistance requests, state of conservation reports and the periodic reporting exercise;

2. Further notes the implementation status of the four World Heritage Programmes (Sustainable Tourism, Cities, Earthen Architecture and Forests) adopted by the Committee at its 25th session in December 2001 and initial proposals for future Programmes;

3. Invites the Director-General to develop new Regional Programmes based on the needs specifically identified through the regional periodic reporting exercise with a view to achieve the new Strategic Objectives and to submit these programmes for consideration and adoption at the 27th session of the Committee in June/July 2003;

4. Further invites the Director-General to propose targets (outputs) and a timetable for their implementation.